A crucial test of NASA’s towering Space Launch System rocket is underway — marking one of the final steps before the vehicle launches four astronauts into deep space for the first time since the Apollo program ended more than five decades ago.

As NASA prepares to send astronauts around the moon, a critical dress rehearsal on Monday will reveal whether its rocket is truly ready to fly.

NASA performed a critical wet dress rehearsal at Cape Canaveral, loading over 700,000 pounds of propellant into the Artemis rocket. While the highly anticipated first crewed mission to the moon in decades has been postponed for further safety checks,

NASA continues to press ahead through the countdown for the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal – a fueling test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

NASA begins Artemis II wet dress rehearsal, fueling the SLS and Orion ahead of a possible Feb. 8 launch window.

NASA on Monday was conducting critical final tests ahead of setting a launch date for its first crewed flyby mission to the moon in more than half a century.